Ex-BJP leader offers free legal aid to Atiq Ahmed's killers

BAREILLY: A former BJP leader in Shahjahanpur has offered to provide free legal support to the three men who killed gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Ahmed in Prayagraj last week. Ragini Singh, who runs a local social group, Hinduism Art and Culture Foundation, said, “These boys have displayed tremendous courage in eliminating the terrorists and helped our society. Since they belong to poor backgrounds, we'll give them every possible legal aid through our foundation."
Singh told mediapersons on Thursday that Atiq and his brother were "hardcore criminals and were running an organised racket from prison." "For 40 years they had been committing murders, land grabs of the poor, extorting money and had acquired properties worth hundreds of crores. All the past governments in the state had failed to control their activities. Their terror was such that witnesses used to refuse to give statements against them. They were very good at playing with the loopholes in the system." Notably, Singh had contested on a BJP ticket from Tilhar constituency in Shahjahanpur in 2012 and lost to BSP's Roshanlal Verma.
When queried if she was justifying Atiq's murder right under police watch, she said, “It can never be the right approach but I'm against the kind of activities that Atiq was involved in. We will ensure the three young men are able to put forward their reasons behind the incident.”